Big Blue Kickoff Live 10/8 I Key Matchups vs. Washington

0:04 It's time for a big blue kickoff live.

0:06 Nobody can ever tell you that you couldn't do it because you didn't.

0:09 On Giants.com. You know what I saw? New York Giant Prime. And the Giants mobile app.

0:15 17-14 is the final.

0:16 One touchdown, we are world champions.

0:19 Believe it, and it will happen.

0:21 Part of the Giants podcast network. Hello, everybody. Good afternoon. Welcome to Thursday. It's Big Blue Kickoff Live presented by Cadillac, the official luxury vehicle of the Giants. John Schmelke, Jonathan Casillas, former Giants linebacker with us this week from the Hackensack Radio Podcast Studio. Keep getting better. JC, how are you, brother?

0:42 I'm fantastic. How are you?

0:44 Three and one in first place. I'm doing great.

0:46 Yeah.

0:46 Sounds good to say that, right?

0:48 Doesn't it?

0:48 First place in the division.

0:49 It's like the first thing. It's like 2015.

0:51 It's been a long time.

0:52 It's been a while.

0:53 Yes. Feels good. You know, people are coming up to me. How about those Giants? Haven't heard that in a while.

0:59 In a good way. Not, JC, what's up with the Giants?

1:03 Exactly.

1:03 It's a little bit different.

1:04 It's good, man. They played good ball last week. You know, not great. Good ball. Complimentary football.

1:09 Good enough to win.

1:10 Good enough to win the game. That's all you got to ask for, man.

1:12 Hey, look, I was just talking to your former teammate, Jonathan Vilma, and, you know, he brought up, I asked him kind of what impact he's seen from Harbaugh on the team. That'll be going up later on the John Settle podcast, by the way. Go subscribe on your favorite podcast platform, Giants YouTube channel as well, Giants app. And he said, discipline and intent matters. Those are his two things.

1:30 So he said discipline. If he sees a mistake on one drive, it gets corrected on the next one. That was the thing that he pointed out with that. Then with intent, and he talked about the takeaways, just understanding. All coaches mention how important takeaways are, right? But not every coach... gets his team to understand and embrace how important they are, and you practice protecting the ball and you practice taking it away. And I don't think it's any surprise, JC, that the Giants are 3-1, and they have not lost a turnover battle in any one of their four games this year. They are plus three over the course of the year. The Titans kind of make up for that entire plus three stretch.

2:07 But.

2:08 The Giants would not be 3-1 if they were not doing well in terms of taking the ball away.

2:12 Absolutely. You know, when you talk defensively, I think one of the things that you talk about, of course, is limiting the score, limiting rushing, right? But the top thing is taking the ball away. Get a takeaway. Get the ball. And the Giants have been consistently doing that. You know, with Jameis Winston, the full Jameis Winston experience, you know, at the helm right now, you know, with the Giants having three turnovers last week, Jameis throwing two picks. You need to have turnovers with this quarterback plan. Now, I think Jameis was a little unsettled, but get the ball back to him as many times as you can.

2:45 Right.

2:46 You know, get the three and outs.

2:47 Because he might make mistakes, but he's going to make plays too.

2:49 Yeah, absolutely.

2:49 Right.

2:50 And that's what we talked about a couple weeks ago, right? Jameis is not all bad plays, right? He does have some bad plays here and there, right? But he makes incredible throws. You know, we talked on the Hangouts the other day. That third and 20 scrambled to his left was a laser beam. It was phenomenal pass.

3:07 That was the one to Nate.

3:09 It was Fields.

3:10 That was Fields.

3:10 It was Fields. But it was just covered to the velocity that he had with that ball. And it's like, that's the Jameis Winston that I need to see more consistently. But go back to defense, right? Defense, they're in your face. They're playing man-to-man defense. Our guys are better than your guys. We can cover your guys. And they're unleashing number 52, Arville Reese. That kid is phenomenal. He's playing some really good football.

3:33 That was like eight minutes of my 15-minute conversation with Voma.

3:36 Just eight minutes?

3:37 No. Half of it was about Arvorese. Half of it. Because I wanted to get his take as a former inside backer. Because I'm like, dude, I got to be honest with you. This is unbelievable to watch.

3:46 Yeah. And they're doing different things with him. The things that we thought that he could be doing for the Giants, he's doing. You know, he's playing middle linebacker. They're blitzing him. They're lining him up on the ball. But the thing is, he's making different types of plays. He's making a very, first of all, a very good open field tackler. I don't think people talked about that much of him coming out of the draft. They talk about his physicality and his explosiveness. We've seen that. But the open field tackling in the NFL is not that great. It's very difficult to do.

4:16 How about that pass to the flat to Algier where he's running out there full speed and you have to break down and then make a tackle. And that's an easy cutback for a lot of backs. Solo tackle. Wrapped him right up and took him down.

4:26 The angles that he'd take, you know, that's not the only time he did it. He's done it every game. Open field tackling, kind of, you know, running back in the flat. There's space in between him and the running back. And he just takes the, like, literally the smartest angle that you could take where the guy really doesn't know what to do. And he's a for sure tackler. He spun and he still got him down. The ability to create plays that Arvo Reese is showing us. You know, I think that's why the Giants chose him so high, right?

4:53 And then, Abdul Carter. Look, Burns went down, right? What are we going to do without Burns? The best pass rusher on the team. One of the best players on the team. One of the best players in the NFL, right? Was second in the league last year, 16 and a half sacks? Abdul Carter moves differently. He's so quick and so fast. And the play he got cut, he got cut on a run play. And I didn't even know it was him that made the play. He was so far away from the running back because he's so explosive.

5:23 He's such a great athlete. He was able to go over four gaps to make that play. Like, I don't know who else can do that, you know? So the young players for the Giants, Banks stepped up at the end of the game, didn't have a great start to the game. But he finished. And that's the thing we haven't seen from the Giants.

5:39 Neighbors big plays, right, on offense with the young plays?

5:42 Absolutely.

5:42 Another young guy?

5:43 I don't know why they went cover two with matching up a linebacker, a middle linebacker on neighbors.

5:47 I don't know why that.

5:48 You take that throw every time.

5:50 This is, look, and it's funny. I didn't mean to interrupt you. I'm sorry. But that's the difference between doing what the scheme is telling you to do and being a football player. Because that safety went where he was supposed to in that cover two. But guess what? If you're thinking as a football player and Cam Scadaboo is your outside receiver and Neighbors is your number three wide receiver closest to the line of scrimmage, if you're that safety, who do you think they're more likely to throw the ball to in that situation? Probably Malik Neighbors. Do you think it's a good idea to let your cover two inside linebacker run down the middle of the field with him with no help? Probably not.

6:30 Probably not.

6:31 And that's the difference between players that can just do what the scheme tells them to do and a player that is smart enough to be, no, no, no, hold on.

6:39 Yeah.

6:39 I have to use my eyes and actually make a football player decision here.

6:42 And we're seeing the Giants players do that, right?

6:44 Right.

6:44 Go back to that last drive. Greg Newsome, man-to-man on the flat route. He gets his hands on the ball in the end zone. That is not his man. They were playing man-to-man coverage. He fell off of his man because, like you said, yes, you got to do your job, of course. And I've talked about this in past years.

7:00 Do your job plus. He almost had a pick at the end of the game on a vertical route, and his man was in the flat because he was smart enough to understand the situation, understand where they were going with the ball, understand that he can rally to that guy and tackle his man. So he ended up making a play. He almost caught the interception before Banks ended up getting the interception.

7:18 And if that's not, if he doesn't do that, Trey McBride could have caught that back shoulder pass.

7:24 Yeah. They did a good job against McBride too, though.

7:27 They did an excellent job, but that could have been a back shoulder catch on that. And it's funny, when you watch it live, you're like, oh, he dropped the pick. You got to make that catch. But then you look at it, you're like, whoa, he wasn't even supposed to be there on that play. That was a great play.

7:42 That's how, you know, they say man to man, you don't get a lot of interceptions because everybody's turning their backs to their quarterbacks and they're playing their man. That's how, the cornerbacks in the league, like the Jalen Ramseys of the world, right? They fall off of their guys because they're not wasting themselves where the quarterback's not looking. So they help out and you don't see those guys because these quarterbacks know exactly what you're in. They know you're in man-to-man. So when they threw that ball, he had no idea that Greg Newsom was going to be there.

8:09 But that's where it comes to situational awareness, right? You talk about that that touchdown gets covered too against the Cardinals. It's like, where's the situational awareness at of the best player on the field against your linebacker? You might want to help him out a little bit, buddy. So I think the Giants are playing a really good situation in football, man, offensively and defensively. And special teams. How about that? Tracy with the return. Jones stepping in with that return. Zvadov two over 50 yards. The punt at the end of the game, two to three yard line. Bro, this is complimentary football. This is complimentary football. Not a great start.

8:45 They gave up a lot of yards early in the first quarter.

8:47 Those outside runs were killing them.

8:48 Yeah, they were. Love was all over us.

8:51 But dude, I don't understand why they didn't go back to that lead on the outside. They ran a couple outside zones later in the game, but they never ran the play where they pull... The guard in the center and brought him around. That was two or three of their biggest plays.

9:02 To start that game. I don't know if the Giants made the adjustment and made him get out of that.

9:06 People were talking about the adjustment. Was the adjustment, and I saw this couple of weeks, was that lining up Carter a little bit further off the line and having him be a little bit wider? Or did you see something else?

9:17 I mean, I've seen them do that. I don't know if that was the adjustment they made. That might have been a game plan already. You know, because different calls call for different things. I would have to be in the room to actually know exactly what was going on. Because when I watched it, I didn't really see anything that jumped out like, oh, they started doing this.

9:32 I was trying to figure it out, too. And I didn't see anything I thought that was obvious either.

9:35 All right. What I do know is that they've shifted over to being man to man. I do know that.

9:40 And blitzing more.

9:41 Yeah, and blitzing more. And I think that's because of Arville Reese. You know, we talked about young linebackers in the NFL. You should have asked Vilma this. How smart was JC when he first got to the league, right? I could cover anybody. But zone coverage, it took me a little while to catch on, you know? So for a kid like Alvaro Ruiz to get the most out of him, you know, have him point at his man and go get that man, right? Have him say, go blitz that guard. And the thing is, he's going to win nine times out of 10. He's won like every one of those situations. He's won whether he's matched up against a guard, a tackle, a running back, a tight end.

10:14 He's winning those matchups. And when he can win matchups and Edmonds is winning his matchups. He's downhill. These guys are playing a run. The guys on the outside are doing a tremendous job. Banks didn't have a perfect game, but the short-term memory, the ability to I don't think he made two PBUs on that last drive and the pick six. Like the ability to have that short-term memory and make plays at the end of the game. You got to tip your hat off to Banks, man. He's getting a lot of slack the last couple of years.

10:43 Probably rightfully so. But he kind of answered, you know, some calls last week, man, with that big pick six at the end of the game.

10:49 I'm with you 100%. That wasn't even my intent to start with that, but I thought that was a great conversation. We got there. It was fantastic. All right. So let's get into the matchups for this week. And I think it all starts with Jaden Daniels, right?

10:59 Yeah.

11:00 It looks like he's going to play. And I want to get your take on this. And again, I don't mean to bring it back to Arizona again, but you mentioned they put a lot more man to man. They blitzed a lot more. And I was having this debate with, I think it was Malousis on Tuesday's show. Is that a one week game plan adjustment? Because you're playing a quarterback like Jacoby Brissett, who is more stationary in the pocket and not much of a runner. Throw in the fact that, that while the Cardinals have good wide receivers, they don't have any burners that are going to run past you. So you could be more comfortable playing man to man out there. Are you going to be able to bring that strategy this week against a quarterback like Daniels? Well,

11:38 if you play man against him and you're turning your back, there could be, you know, tens and dozens of yards where he can run on a lot of these plays if he breaks contained. So how do you think they'll approach Daniels? Do you think we'll see a continuation of last week's strategy? Or is this going to be something a little bit different?

11:54 Well, First of all, if Terry McLaurin's healthy, I think that changes a little bit of things that you want to do.

11:59 And he did not play last week with the Hampshire.

12:01 Yeah.

12:01 So if he's healthy and he can go, he's one of the best, you know, compete for the ball receivers in the league. Tremendous route runner. And Diggs is kind of stepping into that mold for them. Diggs has always been good. And he's very similar to Terry McLaurin, right? These guys run really good routes. Really smart wide receivers.

12:22 I don't think wide receivers that are top wide receivers in the NFL get the credit for how smart they are. These are two of the smartest wide receivers in the game. And they can exploit... man-to-man coverage. This is a different task this week if the Giants decide to go man-to-man against both of those guys. Terry McLaurin being out is a little different.

12:39 And this is why I asked you the question.

12:40 Yeah, it's a little different. So I don't know if they deploy the same game plan last week that they did, excuse me, this week that they did last week, but, you know, they do present some challenges outside that the Cardinals didn't. McBride, that was their guy, you know, and the Giants did a phenomenal job against him. He's not Diggs or McLaurin, right? These are true receivers that, you know, torture defenses over their tenures of their careers. And they can do the same thing with the Giants if they don't have a smart game plan against them. Yes, can Banks, Newsome do their thing and make plays on them? Yes.

13:11 But these guys get paid the money they get paid because they can get open no matter what. Zone, man-to-man, and they have a knack of beating man-to-man no matter how good the corners are. And that's why you pay these receivers that type of money. That's why Diggs is still getting contracts, right? So the Giants have to do a phenomenal job in playing, I think, situational football and maybe doubling these guys once or twice on third downs in critical situations, right? Sending the blitz where the quarterback has to get the ball out of his hands. Now, my thing is, what is the commander's thought process of the RPO game, of the quarterback running, of him actually scrambling?

13:49 You know, to create plays outside the pocket with a damaged arm, you know, and you got to take care of your franchise guy. So maybe they take the RPOs out. But his rookie year, and I go back to this because you remember that rookie year, he was like 90% completion percentage for like the first month of the season.

14:06 He's a monster.

14:06 He was phenomenal.

14:07 He can throw the ball.

14:08 He's still that guy.

14:09 Oh, yeah.

14:09 You know, he's still that guy. So if they keep him in the pocket again, they keep him in the pocket, he can still be a pinpoint passer again. of the football. He's a lot more experienced. He understands the game a lot more. And he's undefeated, if I'm not mistaken, against the Giants?

14:24 I don't know the answer to that.

14:25 I know they swept the Giants the last two years, though, which is, since I've been on this show, that was a change the last couple years because the Giants, you could always count on at least one win going against the Commanders. So the Giants got to get a little redemption from the Commanders, right? This rivalry has shifted over to the Commanders kind of taking heed of that.

14:46 No question about it. So I think that's interesting. Their offensive line, JC, has actually been a lot better than I thought it was going to be. When Laramie Tunsell went out for the year, I thought that could mean almost an Andrew Thomas-level impact. When he has left for the Giants over the course of the years, it's a big impact. It's actually been okay. They've only allowed five sacks.

15:11 Their sack rate is the fourth lowest. They've done a pretty good job. You know, the 37% pressure rate allowed, that's 20th, so that's a little high. But for the most part, their offensive line has survived. I think they've done a pretty decent job giving whoever their quarterback was, a chance to succeed in a lot of these games.

15:30 Yeah, and I think that goes into what they were doing offensively, you know, even when Jaden Daniels was there and even when Mariota, you know, took over with the zone read. We talked about the zone read, you know, conflict that presents the guys. You have to honor the quarterback run. I don't know if that's going to be a problem this week, you know? So I think the Giants can kind of hone in a little bit and maybe attack this offensive line a little bit more if, you know... Instead of having a Jaden Daniels who can create those different opportunities in the run game with the RPO.

16:03 But they did have a good start to the season in terms of protecting their quarterback. Last week when Mariota went out, the younger quarterback came in, the Rutgers guy came in, and they got to him a little bit. But the Giants haven't actually sacked quarterbacks this year that much, right? They're turning the ball over, but sack numbers are really low.

16:24 Pressures were high from Abdul Carter, which they were last year, but the Giants have to figure out a way to get to Jaden Daniels this week. You know, they've given up a lot on defense in terms of the commanders, but the Giants got to figure out a way to start affecting the quarterbacks and getting him down on the ground.

16:41 No, I'm with you. All right, let's switch to the defensive side of the ball here. Different defensive coordinator. They bring in. One of Brian Flores' assistants from last year, Durante Jones. They're blitzing a lot. Right now the commanders have the second highest blitz rate in the league at 46%. Guess who's first? I don't think anyone should be surprised by this.

17:03 Brian Flores, his former top, his former defensive coordinator when he coached under him at Minnesota. So they're going to blitz a lot. Odafe Owe has had a nice little year rushing off the edge. We know about Deron Payne inside. He's a good player. They have Javon Kinlaw, a good player. I think Sonny Stiles has met expectations this year. He's done a really nice job. What do you see when you look in their defense? Does it look like a Dan Quinn defense, or does it look like something a little bit different to you?

17:27 They look fast, man. They look fast. Sonny Stiles is kind of Arvo Reese, off the ball all the time type guy. He's just as fast, just as explosive, just as violent, just as physical as our 52. He's a good player. He's a good player. They look fast on defense. The Colts kind of got it to them. Jonathan Taylor kind of hit his stride a little bit. But they're opportunistic defense, right? They take the ball away. They can get to the ball. Their defensive backs are trying to get that ball out. Sonny Stiles is parading the middle.

17:56 They do have, I think, a good pass rush. The Giants, I think the mindset that they started the season with, I think they got to get back to that. You know what I didn't like from the Giants last week? When they opened up and emptied. Their first play of the game last week was empty and they gave up a sack. And it's just like, that's not the mindset of a team that's trying to establish a physical presence.

18:17 You know, they ended up getting back to it. They tried to run the ball a little bit more. And I'm not even saying run the ball first play, but like, Get into a situation where the defense has to think.

18:27 You can go heavy and run play, actually.

18:29 That's fine. Yeah, but let us think defensively.

18:31 Right, that's what I mean.

18:31 Because, bro, you line up in empty with Jameis Winston back there. It's 100% pass.

18:36 And it's probably going to be a quick throw, too.

18:37 Yeah, so it's like, let us think a little bit on defense. You know, when I say us, I'm talking about defenders, right? We always look at offenses like, what are the challenges that they give us every single play?

18:48 Drive, quarter.

18:49 What are they going to present to us with this guy playing quarterback, with this guy at running back, and Who's the dangers on the outside? When you line up in empty, you know 100% what's happening. It's pass. What type of pass? It is probably quick game. All right, that limits the things that we're going to go against.

19:03 That makes the defense play a lot faster, Schmelke. That's the only reason I hated that, that they did that the first play of the game. Let's get into a situation where we present them with different options. Yes, we can pass the ball on first play of the game. I don't care. But, like, don't line up in empty to let the defense get comfortable early. to understand what they're getting the first play of the game. Keep them on their heels a little bit. So then you can kind of get Jameis into the game. You know, Jameis was a little antsy early in the game. Balls were kind of flying.

19:33 A little high.

19:34 And I think he got settled down a little bit, man. He did.

19:36 I agree.

19:37 And he threw some darts. He threw some lasers throughout the game.

19:41 So apparently, and this got mentioned to me earlier today, and I didn't have a chance to look at the weather yet, and I just saw that it was showing some weather up there. So apparently, in Washington, D.C., on Sunday, there's a 96% chance of rain because a tropical rainstorm... Isaias?

19:59 Something going on in the Gulf right now.

20:02 I-S-A-I-A-S. I don't know how you pronounce that.

20:06 Isaias, Isaias, Isaias, Isaias, Isaiah, something. I don't know.

20:10 But that apparently will be going by that area at some point on Sunday. So this could be another slop fest.

20:16 And that's grass still, right? It's still grass there, right?

20:19 You literally took the words out of my mouth. On a field that... Both of us have been around when it has not been the best.

20:24 Not great. Not great there.

20:26 No, but wait a second. I thought grass was always the best and there was never any problems with grass.

20:30 Until you get rain for 24 hours straight and it's soft and squishy and everybody's slipping and sliding. Bring your studs. Studs, for my fans out there, they're about that long of cleat right there. Usually the cleat is about that much. You got about twice or three times as much cleat when you bring your studs. They help. For sure. Because those short, snub, like plastic, molded cleats, you're going to be falling and slipping all over the place. So definitely bring your molded, guys.

20:59 So we'll see. We'll track that weather. Hopefully it holds off until Monday and, you know, the storm slows down and the weather will be a little bit better because I'm tired of seeing these weird games, JC.

21:08 Can I just.

21:09 Even it rained last week. It wasn't bad, but it did rain last week too. Can I get like a beautiful Sunday afternoon where you can just go out there and like play a regular game, please?

21:17 My barber said for the last 53 weeks, it's rained every weekend, whether it's Saturday or Sunday.

21:23 It feels that way.

21:24 And I thought about it. I said, it has been raining like a lot during the weekends.

21:28 El Nino.

21:29 That's what's doing it. Yeah, it is El Nino, right?

21:31 No, it is legitimately El Nino. That's what it is. All right, 201-939-4513. I mentioned the Giants on a podcast earlier. Jonathan Vilma's going up later today. Also, Joe Theismann. Mark Malus has interviewed him. He's going up today, too.

21:44 South River, baby.

21:45 So we got a couple of guys coming up there, talking about the game this weekend, talking some Giants football. Brian Baldinger earlier in the week. Giants Hangout from earlier in the week. And don't forget, go subscribe on your favorite podcast platform. Just don't watch it on YouTube. Go to Spotify, Apple Podcasts, wherever you get your podcasts, and click that subscribe button on the Giants Huddle or Giants Podcast Network and check it out. We're going to see if this is not true so far, but Eric in Virginia predicts since Casillas is on, Wilson will be calling in today. Someone brought up yesterday that we haven't heard from Wilson in a couple weeks. So there's a prediction, and I think I said that the other day too.

22:20 If he heard that, he'd definitely call him now. I know.

22:23 It's like, what was the name of the horror movie where you said the guy's name?

22:27 Candyman.

22:28 Candyman. That's what it was. Thank you.

22:30 Candyman. I don't think I've ever said it three times looking in a mirror. Because that was a thing when you were a kid. You got to look three times and look in a mirror. I don't think I've ever done that. I don't think I've ever done it.

22:40 Why would you take the chance?

22:41 I don't know.

22:42 All right.

22:43 Let's go to Maurice and Montclair on line one. Johnny back. Maurice, what's going on, pal?

22:49 Hey, good morning, gentlemen.

22:50 Good morning. How are you doing, man?

22:51 What's up, boss?

22:52 Hey, doing pretty good.

22:53 First, let me just get this out of the way.

22:55 I wanted to say this for.

22:55 A long time.

22:56 John, the whole staff, by the way, but John, amazing job, brother. You keep us informed.

23:02 You keep us going.

23:03 And everybody that makes up the staff, great job.

23:06 Just wanted to say that.

23:07 Our staff is fantastic. Pearson, Johnny Mac, of course, all my co-hosts and everybody. I'm on their backs. They're doing a great job. So I appreciate all.

23:15 Their hard work.

23:17 Nah, no doubt.

23:17 Definitely the whole staff, definitely. But let me switch gears and.

23:20 Get right to it.

23:21 Gentlemen, I ain't got nothing special to say. All I really want to mention is what I think Harbaugh instilled in his team from the beginning. Watching the way we've been winning these games, everybody knows if this was last year, the Giants lose. But what I really want to harp on is... Look at the trials that the team has been through so far, losing key players, guys happen to step up in game situations, the quarterback, the adversity in that department, but also coming through when needed. I think we all know it's way better to correct things.

23:54 While you're winning.

23:55 And I really feel like as this team goes through this journey, that they're realizing that Coach has really expressed all the right things to us and gave us the blueprint. The hustle plays when you give effort, you find the ball, all these sorts of things, building Deontay Banks' confidence back up. You know what I mean? Believing in Jameis, everybody else can say what they want to say, but having his back and still running your routes is sharp and precisely.

24:20 And fellas, all I'm going to say is my last thing is, Styles makes fights, and I believe that this team is one of them. You could do whatever in the.

24:29 First quarter to us.

24:30 You could run the ball.

24:31 Like two possessions on us. It could look weird for a little.

24:34 Bit, but as the fight goes.

24:36 On in the sixth and the fifth round, a lot of that stuff stops, and then the Giants start to take over because our philosophy and our approach is like Tyson continuing to come at you. I'm not moving back.

24:47 I'm walking forward. So I feel like, man, Washington.

24:51 We coming.

24:52 We on our way, baby.

24:53 And anybody else that's going to get in our way, you know what I mean? Let's just protect that football, please, Jameis. And let's just keep playing hard, fellas. Let's keep going.

25:03 Good stuff, man. Appreciate the call. Awesome. Question for you, JC. Does the Giants have won their last two games to go to 3-1, literally down to the last play? Goal line stance. literally down to the last play, and they get two interceptions to win those games, one from Javon Holland against Tennessee, and then Deontay Banks' pick six last week.

25:23 I do believe good teams do the little things right, and that helps you win close games. I think there is something to that. I don't think that goes from season to season, but I think within a season, teams get confident in those situations and they get better. But I'm also a believer of the fact that, look, if you go down to the last play a lot, you're actually going to lose some of those. It's just a matter of that's just the way the ball bounces. It's an oblong ball. Things go wrong if you're going to let it go down to the last play, right? How do you feel about that? Do you think teams can really just be good at winning close games, or is this something that eventually is going to swing back this year?

25:56 Maybe it's not going to swing back until next year.

25:58 I mean, you go back a couple of years, the Minnesota Vikings and the Giants.

26:01 2023, both teams made the playoffs and faced each other.

26:04 They both won like double digit game spot like late in the game. So I'm not, I don't want to make a habit out of that, but we've seen it happen. You know, and we've also been on the other side of that where the Giants lost a lot of close games, late in games, gave up leads. You know what I mean? Like we've seen that too. You know, for me, a win's a win. And is it sustainable? Who knows? I really can't predict that, right?

26:25 But as a player, After you win a couple games like that, does it feel different to you when you get into another situation like that where you're less tight, you're more confident because you've shown that you can win in those big moments like that before?

26:43 Not really, bro. Okay.

26:45 That's why I asked because I don't know the answer to it.

26:48 A win's a win, right? Think about the defense, right? Banks walk off pick six, right? Defense feels phenomenal about that, right?

26:54 The week before, Holland walked off pick six.

26:56 Right, yeah. So just, you know, it's a good feeling for the defense. But what play in the NFL is better than victory formations? You know what I'm saying? Where the defense is not on the field, but the offense is on the field. You know what I'm saying? So it's like, how do you want to win? Pick six to end off, walk off, home run type situation? Or, you know, victory formation, meaning the game's in the bag.

27:17 They did what they needed to do on defense. Offense has the ball. Time is left on the clock. You can kneel down, get into victory, and the game is over. It's like, which way do you want to win? Eh, eh, ooh, ooh, wet, wet, wet, right? Can you get a blowout? That's a lot better than a close game.

27:31 You hit it.

27:31 You know what I'm saying?

27:32 Can you dominate a team? Can we win a game by a couple scores? How about like Dallas never had the ball with a chance to tie that game in week one? Win like that. That's sustainable.

27:39 Yes.

27:40 That I know is sustainable.

27:41 Winning in dominant fashion is, I think, is something that you can let other teams know. Like, hey, this is a team that's real. The game wasn't close from the second quarter. I agree with you. You know, like that's a different feel. to victory formation and a walk-off pick six, right? When you can dominate a game and they take out their quarterback, you know what I mean? Like games like that where the starters are sitting down eating seeds and stuff and joking on the sideline, you know what I mean?

28:05 Like games like that, it's like, okay, we've ascended, you know, we've ascended, you know, and that doesn't happen every week. And I mean, it happens once or twice a year from even the best teams in the NFL consistently, right? But if you can get wins like that, you feel a little differently about your team. You feel like, bro, we're Pretty good. Like, we're not just winning close games and figuring out, you know, situational football and being good at times. We're dominating guys, you know, and I think that has a nice sense of confidence. And then also the fan base, right? The fans, they're looking at this team like, are we a great team? Are we a good team? Are we a bad team that found ways to win? Those are still questions that they have because

28:49 it's so early in the season. You know, staple win against the Cowboys, I believe, right? Big time loss against the Rams, even though Jackson Dart goes down. But two, I would say inferior opponents. I don't like to use that word, but teams that were in our weight class. I think that's a term that we've used and we've won those games at the end of the game.

29:08 Both those teams picked ahead of the Giants in the draft last year. And the Giants picked fifth. So they were not very good.

29:15 They weren't that great.

29:17 But.

29:18 You got to win the games you're supposed to win.

29:20 All you can do is win the games on your schedule. And you got another one this week.

29:23 Then as of right now, the Giants.

29:25 The Commanders had the same record as the Giants last year.

29:26 Right. The Giants are now 2-0 against a team that they were supposed to beat and 1-1 with teams that they wasn't supposed to beat.

29:32 Commanders picked sixth last year. And then the Saints, I believe, picked seventh, I want.

29:38 To say, So these are our weight class guys right here.

29:40 Exactly right.

29:41 These are all middleweights. Exactly right. These are all middleweights. But the Commanders have had the Giants number. You know, that's a thing. You know what I'm saying? The Cowboys, the Eagles, the Commanders, the teams that we play twice a year. the guys that you've got to think of multiple times throughout the season, the guys that you have historical, you know, matchups with, right? The commanders have kind of taken the ball from the Giants in the last couple of years. So let's see the approach that Harbaugh has, not just at practice, but how they take the field going down to D.C. and playing these guys down there, man.

30:14 Let's go to Alan in Union, New Jersey. He's up next. Alan, what's happening, pal? Hey, guys.

30:19 Appreciate it ever so much.

30:20 Great program.

30:20 Thank you.

30:22 Hey, a comment and a question.

30:24 The comment is more, I'm tired of people complaining about the Jameis experience.

30:30 I mean, we're winning.

30:31 We're 3-1.

30:32 And that's a good thing.

30:34 It's a team, right?

30:36 Hey, Alan, I would rather have the quarterback that can make plays to help you win games than then the quarterback that is just there, and you have to carry that player to victories every week because they're not helping you win. Now look, might Jameis throw you out of a game here or there, and is that bad? Yes, that's bad. But give me, I'm with you though, Alan, I'm with you. How many backup quarterbacks can go out there on any given week and throw for 300 with two or three touchdowns? Does that mean I can do that?

31:07 I mean, you scored 30 points.

31:08 I guess my point is it's about momentum, right? I mean, I see momentum building. He's gotten better. Hopefully it's going to be even better this week. So I'm willing to cut the guy a break a little bit, right?

31:21 But the question I have is, you know.

31:25 With Jaden Daniels coming off an injury, How are.

31:28 You dealing with that as a player.

31:30 As a linebacker?

31:31 Obviously, you don't want to go there.

31:33 To intentionally try to hurt someone, but you know there's.

31:36 An issue there.

31:37 How are you tackling that guy? Are you doing it in any particular way?

31:41 Are you coached up to do that?

31:44 Well, I would attack him. I would attack him. I would never, because Jaden Daniels, I think, is a tremendous talent, young talent in the NFL. He has a great arm talent. I think he has good instincts. But if anybody is not comfortable, right, there's not a lot of guys that flourish not being comfortable in the pocket. You know, I think you have to attack him in the pocket, make him move, you know, and make him, you know, if you let him sit back and kind of throw the ball to these, I think, very talented receivers that the commanders have, they can have a really good day. But if he, you know, is flustered or even have to think about. Think twice about running the football because of his elbow. I think that advantage goes to the Giants.

32:23 So for me, I would definitely try to put pressure on Jaden Daniels as much as possible.

32:29 Yeah, and if I was a Commanders fan, what would worry me about Daniels is that obviously he's never going to put his arm down to brace his fall.

32:39 Just fall, bro.

32:41 But my worry is that if you're getting tackled and you have a big man bringing you down and you're about to fall on your left side and you're afraid to put your arm down to brace yourself, you're landing right on your shoulder and your collarbone. Yeah, for sure. Look, there's nothing you can do about it. It is what it is. I'm not saying you shouldn't play him or it's a problem or whatever. But that's something, if I was a Commander fan, I would be like, all right, if he's getting dragged down or getting pummeled and he can't put his... Even just doing this, right? To brace yourself a little bit and you're... all of your weights landed on your shoulder or that collarbone area, you know what could happen with AC joints, fractured clavicle.

33:17 And they were the smallest shoulder pads in the world. These quarterback shoulder pads.

33:21 I mean, they're barely pads. They're barely pads. Like spiders. Again, there's nothing you can do about it. You have to try to win football games. But if I was a commander, I would be a little worried about that.

33:31 My approach is to answer his question a little bit more too. Just Make Jaden Daniels move. Don't let him sit back in the pocket and be comfortable. Yes, they're playing man-to-man, but make him move. Make him adjust to where he has to do. Make him think about having to run and maybe look down, not looking up the field all the time and throwing the ball down the field.

33:49 Make him run because I don't think he wants to be a runner. I think the organization don't want him to be a runner.

33:55 And even in week one, they did not use him as a runner much when he was healthy.

33:58 Mariota's the guy to run the ball.

33:59 And I think when he does run, I think it's going to be... Sliding early.

34:04 Yeah. And running out of bounds.

34:06 All of that.

34:06 Throwing the ball away. That's for me.

34:08 Avoid contact. By the way, probably how he should be playing anyway. But I mean, let's be real for a second. But I think we're going to see a lot of baseball slides.

34:17 But that would be the smart thing for him to do. That would be the smart thing that the organization is telling him to do. So the Giants put him in situations where he has to go outside the pocket and where he has to think about running the football or not, throw the ball away. You know, I do think he made good decisions with the ball since he's been in the NFL. You know, I think he's been one of those guys that, you know, first of all, he's an exciting player, you know. But I think he will be a little bit limited from the organization because you can't tell me that they're not looking at this kid like, bro, we have to be smarter players. Plan your position. Like you slide, run out of bounds, get down early, stop

34:58 putting your left hand down. Don't do that ever again. You know, like they have to be telling him these things because it's literally the same injury two years in a row.

35:05 And when he re-injured this year, it wasn't even a final play.

35:08 No.

35:09 That's the scary part of it.

35:11 And good thing for them that it's not his throwing arm because if not, the organization would be in shambles right now. It is his off arm, but you still have to figure out a way to protect Himself from himself?

35:23 Here's a second question. Did you see the brace he was wearing in the video practice yesterday?

35:28 I did not.

35:29 I'm going to bring it up for you real quick. And I'm going to see if I can.

35:31 Is it.

35:32 Who put it up?

35:32 Kayvon Thibodeau type?

35:34 No, it's not that big. But let me see if they have.

35:39 The Winter Soldier? Is it a Winter Soldier?

35:41 No, it isn't quite. I don't think it's... I think it's more Winter Soldier.

35:44 I would love a Winter Soldier.

35:44 All right, here we go. This is Instagram. Let's see if this... Yeah, so you can see it. That's... You see the brace that he's wearing there?

35:50 It looks kind of flimsy.

35:53 Right.

35:54 Oh, no, no, no. He has a pad over it. It's a brace with like a sleeve over it.

35:57 Yeah, there's some plastic in there and stuff, I think, or whatever. But that's what it looks like.

36:01 I see, I see. It's like a joint.

36:04 At the elbow. Yes, and this is the reason I wanted to ask you about it. Can he carry the ball in his left hand?

36:10 Left arm? I would think so.

36:12 You think that's not going to get easily punched out if he's carrying it in his left arm?

36:17 I think he can do it, but it don't make sense for them to do it because... When you're tackling guys, you will attack that arm anyway.

36:26 When that comes back to him.

36:26 With a healthy arm.

36:27 Not allowing himself to get tackled.

36:29 Right.

36:29 Slide.

36:29 Yeah. And not calling plays to have him run the football where he has to carry the ball in his left arm. And then, again, him scrambling to his left. You know, putting the ball in his left hand. You know, like, when you have an injury like this, yes, it's not his throwing arm. But, like, there are things where the Giants can maybe pressure him. from the right side to send him to the left. You know what I mean?

36:50 Like there's things that the Giants can do to kind of exploit his injury a little bit, which it's part of the game. You know what I mean? Like, you know, you're not trying to hurt them, but if he has a limitation, let's try to get him to that limitation. Let's force him into that limitation.

37:05 I've been distracted for the last three minutes. What shape is your, is that, is that Predator?

37:10 No.

37:11 What is it?

37:11 This is a Hamza hand.

37:12 Okay, what is that?

37:13 Yeah, it's like Egyptian.

37:15 Oh, okay.

37:16 It's like for protection.

37:16 I was trying to figure out what shape it was.

37:19 Evil eye. It's a hand. I don't know if you can see it.

37:22 Oh, I was looking at vertically. That's why I was confused. I thought it was like the predator with like the little like thing.

37:27 Here in the head. Now you say it now, I'm like, I never thought of it like that before. Yeah, a Cyclops predator. Yeah. But no, it's a Hamza hand. It's for protection. You know, we've got the evil eye. I got a couple little pendants. I'm not a big jewelry guy.

37:42 I got a couple nice little pieces. I don't think I've seen that one before, which is why I'm like, I didn't know JSU was a big Predator fan.

37:49 I've never heard that before with this. I get compliments all the time from Arabic people, Egyptian people, and also I have an unk too. Like I said, I'm not a big jewelry guy. I'm not a big chain guy. I just got a couple nice little necklaces that I wear and they're real like just, you know, for me, spiritual stuff, little protection stuff, you know what I mean?

38:07 That's my ADD getting in my way.

38:08 I saw you staring. I'm like, what are you looking at?

38:10 I was trying to figure out what shape it was. I was trying to figure it out.

38:13 Predators. It's like the Predator.

38:15 All right, let's go to Lenny Columbia. What's going on, man? We're going to be in your deck of.

38:20 The woods, Len.

38:21 You going to the game?

38:21 I am going to the game.

38:24 Bring your rain gear, Len. It might be sloppy.

38:27 Well, if you'll allow me 20 seconds, I've got a quick story.

38:31 Sure.

38:34 I've been down here over 60 years. John may know this, but Jonathan, I've seen somewhere between 55 and 60 commanders, Redskins, Giants games down here over the 60-year period that I've been in the area. This is only the second time I'm sitting undercover.

38:54 Oh, smart man.

38:55 I'm actually.

38:57 At club level?

38:58 Woo!

39:00 Big time!

39:02 But I have been told to keep my giant scarb covered. I'm going with somebody who has club tickets, who actually has a connection with the... Commander's Ownership Group.

39:21 So basically, this is like the Seinfeld episode. where, you know, John, you're not a big Seinfeld guy, but so let me set the scene. So George is girlfriend. Her dad is George Steinbrenner's accountant. So they get George tickets in the owner's box and Elaine shows up in an Orioles cap and the captain comes down and says, you got to take the Orioles cap off. And they like into a fight and they get thrown out of the stadium.

39:54 That's hilarious.

39:55 Yeah.

39:55 I'll have to tell you the whole story of how I landed these, but it has something to do with my main trip.

40:01 Yeah.

40:01 Just stay safe.

40:02 Um, um, Anyway, you haven't mentioned it yet. Were you were you at the big ballpark in the Bronx last night?

40:10 I didn't. I was. And that's why I didn't want to mention it, because shockingly, the Yankees once again go through a playoff series, has a good team and once again can't score any runs, which has been the case literally for the last 16 seasons. So I'd like that to change at some point, Len, because it stinks because you have no hope when you play a good team in the playoffs. that they're ever going to score enough runs to win. And it is endlessly frustrating. And I'm still pretty teed off about it, which is why I didn't bring it up.

40:37 Yeah.

40:39 I know.

40:39 Yeah.

40:39 Going to be a long, going to be a long winter. Very disappointing. Back to the, uh, uh, quick, quick, uh, quick one, uh, over and under on unnecessary roughness and roughing the passer penalties on Sunday. You don't have to give me a number. I'm just alluding to something. Um, Everybody wants to protect these quarterbacks, including the league. We've got to be careful how physical we get with Daniels.

41:09 I'm surprised he's playing. I don't get it. I'm really surprised. This could really become chronic and long-term. But, hey, that's their problem. But, boy, we better be careful. We better be careful on Sunday with that.

41:24 All right.

41:26 You know, another winnable game here for us. Going to be sloppy, obviously. I think the forecast is probably going to hold. A little concerned about the run game, our run game. You know, Kinlaw, Payne, Stiles, Lovo, they're strong up the middle, Armstrong off the edge, pretty good defensive player. I don't know, that interior has got me a little– our interior– It got me a little worried. I don't see us gaining a whole lot of yards on Sunday.

42:02 What do you think?

42:04 Well, I think the Giants made an adjustment to their offensive game plan because the guy that was throwing the football in week one was a really good RPO guy, a really good zone re guy. He was a really good threat with the ball in his hands. Now you have Jameis there. It's kind of like a statue back there.

42:23 He doesn't have any type of run threat whatsoever in terms of his legs. So it's a lot easier to defend the run when you know it's either drop back pass or it's strictly run with the running back.

42:35 Now, JC, I'm curious what your opinion is on this. And Len, hang there. We'll get back to you. I feel like not having the running quarterback takes some of the explosiveness out of the run game specifically. They're still grinding out yards. They're not having a lot of negative plays. They're gaining two yards, three yards, four yards, five yards.

42:53 They didn't have one 10-yard run last week. So I think that's where we're seeing the lack of the quarterback part of it, right? You're not getting those big open areas because you don't have that deception with the quarterback being able to run it.

43:04 And if you look specifically at the Giants personnel, the guy that were hitting the big runs– Tracy, he's lower on the depth chart.

43:12 That's a good point, too.

43:13 Right? Those two running backs, they're not burners. They're not big run type of guys. They're three, four, five yards to three, four, five yard type of running backs. And I just think that the offensive schematics, right, is a little bit more easier to defend in terms of the run game, Lynn. And it's a little bit easier to predict.

43:34 where the gaps are going to be and who's carrying the ball. You know, so what will open that up is down the field passing, the play action game, you know, being able to, people say run the ball to pass. Yes, but you can also pass the ball to run.

43:49 Might be tough to do that in Hurricane though.

43:50 Yeah, yeah. So this week might be a little different story, but I think he brought up a great point. You know, I do think the Giants need to be explosive in the run game too. You know, let's say the weather is a factor this weekend. Getting two yards to carry in the NFL is not going to cut it. You know, you got to play the field position battle, which I think is advantageous for the Giants. Yeah. Having a punter and being able to kick long field goals and stuff like that. Even the return game too. But, you know, the Giants have to be able to, I think, establish a run, especially early in games, to be able to have, I think, an efficient offense and don't rely on The one, two, three big plays a game from Jameis Winston. I do

44:34 think you've got to be able to put together drives in the NFL.

44:38 I'm with you on that as a strategy. That is establish the run. But you guys haven't addressed the point that I brought up, which is the interior offensive line. Then you see Scat hesitating a little bit and almost looking like Barkley when we were critical of him trying to bounce something to the outside. Those guards are not getting it done, Jonathan. They're not getting it done.

45:08 I've seen good and bad from both. Maui Noah, I've seen him play.

45:15 He probably had his worst game last year.

45:16 Yeah, last week he definitely had a step back, but he's young. Is Jameis playing this week? Is Jameis playing this week?

45:23 We'll have to wait and see.

45:24 Yeah.

45:26 And, Len, honestly, and just real quick, I think you kind of hit part of this. There have also been plays where I think there's been holes, and Skadaboo has not taken the right path on some of these runs, too.

45:37 He's off.

45:37 He's just... He just seems a bit off to me, guys.

45:41 He just....

45:43 He's a little too frantic.

45:46 He needs to be a little calm.

45:48 He thinks he's going to break it, and he looks upset when the player's over. So that's got me a little concerned on Sunday. And again, the bad weather throwing the ball is going to be hypothetical. Every time I hear Diggs' name, I think back to his draft year. John, you might remember this. Fifth round, he was still sitting there And we went defensive back, a guy from Texas who we never could figure out if he was a safety or a corner. And he lasted two years. And look what Diggs went on to do. And then in the sixth round of all things, we went wide receiver.

46:31 In the sixth, some guy from that wide receiver factory at the University of Connecticut who only lasted two years.

46:39 Oh, God.

46:41 We could have had big swole all these years. That was a terrible draft year. Terrible draft year. Well, listen, let's go Giants. We've got an opportunity here. Commanders got their back to the wall. This is a huge game for them.

46:55 It is desperation for them, Len. Des, I'm with you 100%. Thank you for the call, man.

47:00 This is a desperate team. We didn't speak about that. You know, this is a desperate team that the Giants are playing.

47:04 You talk about playing why they're playing Jada Daniels?

47:06 Yeah, they're a desperate team.

47:08 Look, they're probably looking up at the Division II. Sorry.

47:10 Yeah, good.

47:11 Cowboys and Eagles are 2-2. Yeah. And they're sitting and looking at the Giants at 3-1. They have them this week.

47:15 And they've lost two in the division so far, right?

47:18 Everyone can be tied.

47:19 Yeah. Yeah.

47:20 You know what I mean?

47:21 Yeah.

47:21 Or at least close to it. Dallas plays tonight. We'll see what they do. But they can be right in the mix here if they beat the Giants. So I'm with you. I think it is desperation time. Go ahead.

47:30 I'm sorry.

47:30 No, you're good. That's something that we kind of speak about at times, but we haven't talked about that today about the commanders. They beat the Seahawks. That's crazy. I still think that's crazy how they beat the Seahawks a couple weeks ago. The actual defending champions, remember two weeks ago when I said the Rams were?

47:49 We talk about look-ahead games sometimes and trap games for good teams.

47:54 That was it. Yeah, that was it. But they played a good game against them.

47:58 No, they did. And by the way, their run defense has actually been good this year. And I think that's why the Commanders could have beat Seattle that week. They slowed the Seattle run game down. They were 11th in DVOA against the run. 11th in EPA per play. They did. You're 100% right about that. But that is one of the strengths of their team.

48:15 So the Giants, I'm not saying it's the weakness for the Giants. Maybe you could say it's the weakness for the Giants. But the Giants have to do better in the run game. The Giants going into this year, week one... I think you saw the total philosophy of what the Giants wanted to be this year. A wrench got thrown in the plans. Now they have to make an adjustment.

48:35 I do think that you still have to be able to run the football effectively and efficiently. And I would like to do it early in games. That's why empty on first play of the game is a little... I just like... Like, I yelled at the TV.

48:55 Did you really?

48:55 I actually yelled at my phone because I was at my daughter's basketball game watching it. And, you know, I do think that, yes, Maui Nua, John Runyon, John Michael Schmitz. Who's the guy playing for John Michael Schmitz right now in the middle at center? Oh, Brian Hudson. Brian Hudson. Those guys, they do have to get better. You know, I think Illuminor and Andrew Thomas, there are the strengths right now of the offensive line, and they do have to get better. Okay, maybe. we can do some different type of run schemes and maybe attack the outsides a little bit more. Scadable is an interesting running back. I watched him last week, right? Got through the line of scrimmage.

49:35 There was a defensive back, and there was a D lineman. He chose to run at the D line. And the announcers on TV said he went after the linebacker. So now that was a D tackle actually that he chose over, over a DB. And it's like, bro, I know you like the violence and I know you're like about that life.

49:59 Cause I'm about that life too. But I think, you know, you don't make those type of decisions. It's like, turn your violence towards a guy that you have a high percentage of winning against.

50:09 It's like you have a choice of the blocker. Do you want to attack the pulling offensive guard or do you want to attack the wide receiver that's trying to block you? You probably want to attack the wide receiver.

50:19 I saw that. I'm like, bro, like I get it. Like I get impose your will. And it's not going to be a lot of times where he's choosing between a D tackle and a cornerback, right? But it's like, that probably three or four extra yards there. You know what I'm saying? That probably has that DB thinking twice about tackling you. Like, you know, I'm coaching now, right?

50:41 He runs over linebackers routinely.

50:43 So he has a physical mindset. There's something about that when you can deploy that on a defense and vice versa, right? And I like that thought process. Just be smart about who you're choosing your battles with, you know, because it does work when you can impose your will on somebody, you know, but a D-tackle, I don't know, against a, versus a corner? You know, like, the D-tackle, maybe he goes backwards a little bit, but he's not gonna be the guy to be like, oh, I gotta think twice about this. You can impose your will on DBs. You can run them over, and now they're gonna think twice about getting in there. That's an extra three yards on the next run, because he's supposed to fill in that C-gap.

51:22 He's kinda in it, but he ain't sticking his head in there no more. That's what it's like. Yes, impose your will, but even when you do that, be smart about that.

51:31 I'm with you on that. I didn't notice that play when it happened.

51:34 I noticed that type of stuff. That's the stuff I noticed. I get it. 100%.

51:38 All right, let's go to Joe in Pennsylvania, and then Scott in New Mexico will wrap us up. Joe, what's happening, pal?

51:44 Yeah, it's the same stuff you're talking about. I've seen that play too, Jonathan. It's like... running into a wall or a telephone, or he could have went for the linebacker or so was there, and he was two yards away from him. If he would hit him on straight and spin to his left, he might have went a lot further or gone, but whatever. But what you're talking about is that I was going to bring up, and it just seems I'm going to see it, that it's going to, where the Giants ain't going to be moving the ball for how many series if the weather's real bad and they're going to be up there blitzing. I don't know how many times in that last game I mean, they were just right on Jameis, and he barely got

52:39 the ball away ten times about it.

52:41 Yeah, Joe, I thought Jameis did a great job of escaping pressure last week, too, to buy some extra time. I thought he did a great job with that.

52:47 It was close a lot. Like, literally right on his arm when he threw the ball. Yeah.

52:54 Yeah.

52:54 Well, this is what I was saying, and bring up that it may push our coach to maybe– If we're not moving it a few series and they're up there, bring McCarthy in, maybe let him run a few plays, too, or so, where he could take it around the end or something. That's what I was thinking, because you ain't going to be throwing it downfield that much, and if they're all up there and we just ain't moving the ball, I don't know if he'll be tempted, because he said last week he was He had it set up just in case, but never thought of it. And that's all I really want to say is that he might try him a series or two if we ain't moving the ball at all. And you can't throw it. And we're going to have a score like Tennessee's 12-7 or something

53:50 like that.

53:51 All right, Joe. Thanks for the call, man. Good stuff. And look... If you want to put a package in there where you can use him as that foil as a running quarterback in the read option RPO run game like you were talking about before for a series or something like that, yeah, you could do that. We don't know if he's even ready to be the straight-up backup yet.

54:06 Like last year he wasn't ready. Last week he wasn't ready to be the backup. Tanner was. So we have to see where he is in terms of learning the offense.

54:12 They suited both of them up last week though, right? Yeah.

54:14 McCarthy was like a package situation and Jay Kaner was the true backup.

54:20 I would say do it. Yeah, I would say do it. You know, because, you know, guys, like I play linebacker, man. Like when you have a running quarterback that has, of course, if a running quarterback can only run the ball, that's not the same as a dual threat, right? It's not the same. You know, just like Jameis. Jameis is not a dual threat guy. He's a passer of the football.

54:35 When you have a dual threat quarterback who can throw and freaking run the ball, like when you do this, right, and you have a receiver kind of pulling out, that's literally triple option. That's exactly what it is. right? Not the old school boom and they pitch it. The pitch is the RPO. That's triple option. That literally means exactly what it says.

54:55 It's three different plays into one.

54:58 As a defender, if you don't play it right, it's a big play. You know, even if you play it right, they might be able to get yards because it's maybe a little bit of hesitation. Maybe a guy's a little bit off, you know, like it just has so many things that you can defend. And that's why with Jackson Dart, that's why they did what they did to the Cowboys.

55:15 You know what I'm saying? Like, It's so hard to defend that. And not to say that you can't line up and pass the ball and drop back pass and run the football. It's not that. It's just that it slows you down a little bit on defense and you can't just attack them. You know, like I felt like, you know, the Cardinals were attacking the Giants offense last week.

55:35 You know, I think. The Commanders are going to do the same thing. I think they're going to try to attack the Giants' offense. They're going to try to fluster Jameis Winston, and they're going to try to suffocate the run game and let Jameis beat them. You know, because as a defender, you look at a quarterback like Jameis and you always say, he's going to throw us one.

55:52 That's what you say when you play against a quarterback like Jameis as a defender. The DBs are like, yo, when he throws it, you better catch it. That's what they say. You know, so they're going to force Jameis to beat them because he can get a little antsy with the ball. He can throw a little high. And they're going to try to suffocate the run game, you know, and having that RPO slows the defense down that much to maybe get that play action pass behind the linebackers.

56:17 Maybe hesitate to D end a little bit from go ahead and just tackle the dive or hitting the quarterback. So I think that JJ McCarthy, if he's good enough to like actually understand the play calls. Definitely throw him in there for a few plays and mix it up a little bit.

56:30 You've got to go with your ball handling on those plays, though, too, with the wet ball. Put it in the belly, take it out. You've got to be really secure with how you're handling that ball. All right, final call of the show, Scott in New Mexico. Scott. Hi, guys.

56:42 It's sort of Len and Joe stole my thunder. I was going to talk about the offensive line as well. But I want to talk specifically about a couple of different players. The one that worries me the most and the one that most surprises me is he ranks 67th out of 73 guards in the NFL right now. I won't go over his numbers. They're really bad. But are we running the same problem that we did with Evan Neal with a player playing out of position where it was a normal tackle and you're trying to make guard and he's not doing as well, or do you think it's a time thing? where he's just going to have to learn.

57:20 I think it's a rookie thing. I think it's a rookie thing as much as anything else. I think you put any rookie offensive lineman in there, very rarely... except for, you know, Tristan Wirth, you know, Penny Sewell, you know, take your pick. You know, Tyler Smith right now is probably the best guard in football. The first half of his rookie year was rough. So I think it's just a time thing, to be honest with you. Scott, I think we've got to give it some time. He's had some really good moments moving people in the run game at guard. His pass pro there, for the most part, has been good. More recently, to your point, there's been some issues where you had some allowance and pressures in some of these games. But I think that's just a

57:58 time thing.

57:59 Yeah, I think so too. Time will tell because I think that's a fair question that you asked. Playing out of position and you play tackle in Miami. This is the thing. When you have young guys in the NFL, on a consistent basis, you're going against guys with very much veteran experience on a consistent basis. You know what I mean? Like you play a young guy every now and again, but most weeks you're going against veteran guys, which they have all of the skill sets. They have all of the tools, all of the finesse in their game, all of the power, all of the technique to exploit inexperienced players. That's why I say rookies are dumb because they just don't know what they don't know. So as he gets and understands how they're attacking him and how

58:48 they're smacking his hands, because last week he run blocked. And as a defender, you want to hold your gap down. He swam them. And you can see him. He looks, he look confused. He's like, why did he do that? I didn't expect that. But because he's young and I'm not saying he don't watch film, but he didn't watch film for the last four years in the NFL. You know what I'm saying? He's only watching a couple of games.

59:14 He don't know what that D-tackle did last year and the year before. You know what I mean? So he has a lack of experience. So let's see as the season goes and he's gaining that experience, if his skill set can hold up at that position.

59:29 Okay. I'll make it short because I know you're running out of time. Both of you know that the offense moves with the offensive line. James Winston's only getting about 2.7 seconds to throw the ball. That means I think the Giants overall, I think they're about 283 yards. The offense is being able to put together and it's like one of the worst in the league right now, too.

59:59 So is it a problem with the offensive line in totality? I know, John, you expressed that Andrew Thomas didn't seem right. Of course, he was the best tackle, I thought, in the offense last year. So is there a problem there? And also with the Hudson switch, do you think that will be permanent or will it switch back to JMS?

1:00:19 Because Hudson obviously did well in the game, obviously, last week. I don't want to.

1:00:25 End it there.

1:00:26 Thanks, Scott.

1:00:26 Appreciate it. Yeah, I mean, I think the offensive line just hasn't been as dominant. You know, I think it's been off and on. I think they were really good against Dallas. They weren't as good against Los Angeles. And then this past week, they were okay. I mean, they were fine, but they weren't great. So I think.

1:00:41 They'll continue to play in this new scheme. They have a new offensive line coach, Greg Roman. It's a new system. So I think they're figuring that out a little bit, JC. In terms of Schmitz and Hudson, it's interesting. John Harbaugh was very noncommittal the other day. My guess is we're probably not going to know until we get there on Sunday who's going to start. I was talking to Sean O'Hara about that yesterday. He thinks Schmitz might be a little bit better in the run game. He thinks Hudson's a little bit better in pass protection.

1:01:03 You can't do that like defense. You switch them out. No, you can't.

1:01:07 No, you can't.

1:01:07 Whoever started playing.

1:01:08 Honestly, Scott, I wish I had a good answer for you. To me, it's a coin flip right now. I don't know who ends up starting on Sunday, to be honest with you. I don't know.

1:01:15 Yeah. I'm with you. I watch the O-line. It's like, are they getting worse? Have they regressed since week one?

1:01:24 Yeah.

1:01:25 I think it might be the game plan. You know, I think different type of runs require different type of positioning and blocks.

1:01:30 I think one thing they've been really good at when they've been asked to double team and get to the second level. And I think whichever center has been asked to double team on those plays, I think they've actually done a really nice job. But, you know, the other thing I brought up too, and you can speak to this.

1:01:44 There was no Jeffrey Simmons for Brian Hudson to have to block one-on-one this week. And, you know, there wasn't a nose tackle lined up right on his face in the game where he's having to block one-on-one. JMS had to deal with that the week before. You know, Brian Hudson didn't have to deal with anything resembling that this week.

1:02:01 So it's almost like comparing apples and oranges, too, when you look at the two performances.

1:02:04 Yeah, let's see. Fingers crossed, because I do think if the Giants want to continue to win games, they've got to run the ball. You know, and the interior line is essential to that.

1:02:13 JC, good stuff.

1:02:14 Yeah, same here, brother.

1:02:15 For Jonathan Casillas, I'm John Schmelke. That's Big Blue Kickoff Live presented by Cadillac, the official luxury vehicle to Giants. Giants 5K, folks. Sunday, November 8th, 9 a.m. MetLife Stadium. Go to Giants.com slash 5K. Proceeds will benefit the Giants Foundation, a 501c3 nonprofit corporation. Giants.com slash tickets if you want to try to get to that Giants-Saints game in a couple of weeks. Are you going to be wearing your Saints jersey or your Giants jersey?

1:02:40 I'll be wearing my Giants stuff.

1:02:42 You almost wore your Giants stuff when they gave you the New Orleans, which is the funny thing.

1:02:46 Oh, real quick, real quick. Len talked, somebody talked, yeah, Len, Len talked about the story. Remember, I was in the same suite.

1:02:52 I know.

1:02:52 On the same side.

1:02:53 Cheering for the Giants.

1:02:54 And I almost like, I had to catch myself because the owner's there, Mickey Loomis is behind me. And I was like, let me just be quiet. They kind of looked at me like, all right, watch it down there, buddy. Watch it because the Giants had made a mistake. And I was like, well, I'm going. quiet before I get kicked out of the Superdome.

1:03:15 I'd never invite it back.

1:03:16 I'd never invite it back. But, you know, I'm all Giants all day, baby. All day.

1:03:20 For John Legasius, I'm John Schmelke. That's Big Blue Kickoff Live presented by Cadillac, the official luxury vehicle for the Giants. Tomorrow, Sytac and Dettino will give you a full preview of the game coming your way at noon right here on Giants.com and the Giants mobile app. And keep an eye on the Giants on the podcast today. Joe Theismann and Jonathan Vilma should both be coming up. We'll see you next time, everybody.